Espaces Arts & Objets

Adriaen Coorte - Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis

May 4, 2008 • No Comments

The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis / The Hague

Adriaen Coorte - Ode to Coorte
on View until 8 June 2008

The Mauritshuis pays tribute to the 17th-century still-life painter Adriaen Coorte with the survey exhibition Ode to Coorte.
His paintings usually depict fruit or vegetables, though sometimes also nuts or shells. Coorte’s facture was highly refined, and his works small in scale. The objects in his still lifes are often shown life-size, resting on a stone table, and always lit up against a dark background. Presently, magnificent works by Coorte, such as his Still life with wild strawberries and Still life with apricots held by the Mauritshuis, rank among the public’s favourite paintings. Coorte’s oeuvre currently counts about 60 paintings, more than half of which will be on view at the exhibition.

“Still life with strawberries”, 1705

Adriaen Coorte. Still life with strawberries, 1705.
Paper on panel, 16,5 x 14 cm.
The Hague, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis

Courtesy The Hague, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis

Adriaen Coorte
We are groping in the dark with regard to the details of Adriaen Coorte’s life. Neither his date of birth nor that of his death is known. However, he must have been active in the vicinity of Middelburg as emerges from the fact that his paintings were in 18th and 19th-century sales held there, at which - incidentally - they did not fetch very high prices. This raises the question of whether Coorte actually made a living from painting. Moreover, he was not registered with the local painters’ guild. Stronger still, in 1696 the Middelburg Guild of St Luke fined Coorte as a non-member for selling his paintings locally. In the course of the centuries, Coorte’s name sank into oblivion. Interest in Coorte’s work has revived only in recent decades and the driving force behind this reassessment was Laurens Jan Bol, former director of the Dordrecht Museum, who organised the first exhibition devoted to this painter in 1958.

Everything but apples and pears
Coorte’s strawberries, apricots, asparagus, artichokes, berries, grapes, hazelnuts, chestnuts, cherries, medlars, peaches, plums, shells and walnuts look so real. Here and there, small insects crawl through the composition. Subtle details - a twig, flower, butterfly or dragonfly – are found everywhere. The rendering of the objects in the still lifes is so true-to-nature and realistic that the depictions of the fruit, vegetables, nuts and shells could easily feature in contemporary popular cookbooks and glossy magazines. Coorte must have been fond of strawberries and asparagus, for they each featured as the subject of his paintings close to 12 times. The only precious objects he painted more than once are shells and a Wan-li bowl, which were brought from distant shores by the Dutch East-India Company.

“Still life with shells”, 1697

Adriaen Coorte. Still life with shells, 1697.
Paper on panel, 17,2 x 22,2 cm
Private collection

Courtesy The Hague, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis

“Still life with chestnuts”, 1705

Adriaen Coorte. Still life with chestnuts, 1705.
Paper on panel, 13,7 x 16,2 cm
Mrs. Henry H. Weldon Collection

Courtesy The Hague, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis

Oeuvre
Adriaen Coorte’s oeuvre comprises more than 60 signed paintings, almost all of which are dated between 1683 and 1705. Initially Coorte painted more traditional subjects, such as vanitas still lifes, before concentrating on fruit, vegetables, nuts, and shells. His earliest work was strongly influenced by Melchior d’Hondecoeter, who produced primarily decorative paintings of birds. In fact, the ducks in Coorte’s Mountain landscape with ducks from 1683 are taken directly from bird pieces by D’Hondecoeter. The whereabouts of several of Coorte’s paintings are unknown and all we have are old descriptions of them. Once in a while a painting by him resurfaces, for instance last summer, when the Still life with a branch of gooseberries from 1693 was recovered in Germany. This still life, which was last seen at an auction held in 1889, will not be on view in the exhibition, but is included in the new Coorte catalogue raisonné. The Still life with two walnuts (1702) from the Szépmüvészeti Muzeum in Budapest, which is currently being restored at the Mauritshuis, is the smallest painting Coorte made: it is as ‘big’ as a picture postcard.

Old paper
Coorte painted almost two-thirds of his still lifes on paper. During the development of the depiction or directly after completion he probably affixed the paper to a panel or canvas. However we currently assume that Coorte mostly carried this out himself, there are some indications that the painted sheets of paper were affixed to a sturdier support much later, in the 18th and 19th century. It happens that the so-called marouflé technique was rarely used in the 17th and 18th century. In 2006 the Still life with two peaches and a butterfly (1693-95) came up at a sale in London. An interesting discovery was made during its restoration when the painted paper was detached from its wooden support: the still life was executed on the back of an invoice.
Not only Coorte’s use of paper, but also his painting technique is noteworthy. Regardless of his refined and detailed painting style, Coorte sometimes struggled with the correct rendering of perspective. The stone tables or earthenware bowls are not always accurately depicted. Nevertheless, for many of his admirers, it is precisely these distortions that lend Coorte’s paintings a certain charm.

“Still life with two peaches and a butterfly”, c.1693-1695

Adriaen Coorte. Still life with two peaches and a butterfly, c.1693-1695.
Paper on panel, 27 x 18,9 cm
Private collection

Courtesy The Hague, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis

“Still life with asparagus and a spray of redcurrants”, after 1696

Adriaen Coorte. Still life with asparagus and a spray of redcurrants, after 1696.
Paper on cardboard, 33 x 23 cm
Pieter C.W.M. Dreesmann collection

Courtesy The Hague, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis

“Mountainous landscape with ducks”, 1683

Adriaen Coorte. Mountainous landscape with ducks, 1683.
Canvas, 84 x 70 cm
Fondation Aetas Aurea

Courtesy The Hague, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis

Ode to Coorte is not only a tribute to Coorte, but is also dedicated to Frits Duparc, who will be resigning as director of the Mauritshuis in the beginning of 2008. The exhibition is made possible financially by Van Lanschot Bankers and a group of private individuals. The Mauritshuis is grateful to Pieter Dreesmann and David Koetser for securing the support of these sponsors.

Angewandte Kunst im Aufbruch – Deutschlandreise

May 4, 2008 • No Comments

Wanderausstellung des BK Deutschland 2008 bis 2010

Erste Station der Wanderausstellung in Karlsruhe,
3. bis 20. Mai 2008
Konzerthaus, Kleiner Saal und Foyer

Arbeiten von 103 Kunsthandwerkern/innen im Konzerthaus in Karlsruhe ausgestellt

Die Wanderausstellung „Angewandte Kunst im Aufbruch – eine Deutschlandreise“, die vom BK Deutschland ausgeschrieben wurde und in den Jahren 2008, 2009 und 2010 durch die Bundesländer wandern wird, hat ihre erste Station in Karlsruhe und ist dort vom 3. bis 20. Mai 2008 im Konzerthaus am Festplatz zu sehen.

Eine Vielzahl von Gestaltern/innen aus allen Bereichen der angewandten Kunst hatte sich auf die Ausschreibung des BK Deutschland beworben. Von einer renommierten Jury sind nun die Arbeiten von 103 Kunsthandwerkern/innen aus den Sparten Schmuck und Gerät, Glas, Keramik, Holz, Metall, Papier, Textil und Accessoires ausgewählt worden, die nun in Kürze in Karlsruhe wirkungsvoll präsentiert werden.

Die ausgestellten Objekte zeigen die große gestalterische Vielfalt und die hohe Kreativität in der angewandten Kunst. Fern aller Beliebigkeit weisen sie Gestaltung in der angewandten Kunst als einen geistigen Prozess aus, der dem Betrachter Raum für eigene Assoziationen gibt und die Chance eröffnet, neue Wege des Sehens und Erlebens zu erfahren. Auch Exponate, die insbesondere zum Gebrauch bestimmt sind, werden in dieser Ausstellung gezeigt. Sie heben sich jedoch durch ihre gestalterische Besonderheit aus handwerklich geschaffenen Alltagsgegenständen hervor und bestechen durch ihre ästhetische Dimension.

http://www.bundesverband-kunsthandwerk.de/

Yinka Shonibare “Prospero’s Monsters” - Video Interview

April 30, 2008 • No Comments

Yinka Shonibare

“Prospero’s Monsters”

Born in England in 1962 and raised in Nigeria, Yinka Shonibare currently lives and works in London, where he has gained international attention by exploring issues of race and class through a range of media that includes sculpture, painting, photography, and installation art. Adopting a richly complex, unconventional approach, Shonibare lampoons the concept of achieving status through what might be called cultural authenticity. His works, simultaneously innocent and subversive, address a range of cultural and historical issues and, in the process, blur the boundaries of design, ethnography, and contemporary art.

ARTNET TV, By Nicole Davis Vol. 2, No. 3 - Yinka Shonibare “Prospero’s Monsters”
James Cohan Gallery, New York City - April 2008 - Music by Jordan Galland

James Cohan Gallery presents an exhibition of new works by Yinka Shonibare, MBE. Shonibare’s three-part installation of sculpture and photography revisits the collision between irrational mysticism and logical reason that occurred in society during the eighteenth-century Enlightenment period. The artist’s work often concerns itself with the history of colonization and its ensuing struggles. Here, the artist intimates that western democracy’s current conquests may similarly invoke physical or psychological conflict.

Yinka Shonibare
“Prospero’s Monsters”
April 17 - May 17, 2008

at the James Cohan Gallery - New York

Links

Yinka Shonibare - Homepage

James Cohan Gallery - Homepage

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Winslow Homer: The Color of Light - Art Institute of Chicago

April 24, 2008 • No Comments

The Art Institute of Chicago

Winslow Homer: The Color of Light
on View until May 10, 2008 2008

A groundbreaking exhibition of watercolors by one of America’s most revered artists. Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light presents 130 works that reveal Homer’s astounding mastery of watercolor, exploring how he unlocked the secrets of the medium over a period of more than three
decades.

“The Water Fan”, 1898/99

Winslow Homer. The Water Fan, 1898/99. Watercolor, with blotting and touches of scraping, over graphite, on thick, rough twill-textured, ivory wove paper , 374 x 534 mm. Gift of Dorothy A., John A., Jr., and Christopher Holabird in memory of William and Mary Holabird.

Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago

In preparation for this exhibition, curators, conservators, and conservation scientists at the Art Institute spent years closely examining Homer’s watercolor techniques and materials, using the museum’s own collection as a basis for their inquiries. The resulting exhibition, with its accompanying catalogue, provides an intimate look at the artist’s evolving relationship with this flexible and luminous medium. Offering the most comprehensive exhibition of Homer’s watercolors in decades, Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light is organized by and mounted exclusively at the Art Institute. The exhibition will be on until 16–May 10, 2008,in the museum’s Regenstein Hall and Galleries 271–273.

American painter Winslow Homer (1836–1910) created some of the most breathtaking and influential images in the history of the watercolor medium. He was, famously, a man who received almost no formal artistic education. Acknowledged in his own day as America’s most original and independent watercolorist, he had an intuitive relationship with this challenging medium. Between 1873 and 1905, he created nearly 700 watercolors—an astonishing number. A staple of his livelihood, watercolors were quick drying and portable. The medium became his movable classroom, a way for him to learn through experimentation—with color theory, composition, materials, optics, style, subject matter, and technique—far more freely than he could in the more public and traditionbound arena of oil painting.

For to Be a Farmer’s Boy

Winslow Homer. For to Be a Farmer’s Boy, 1887. Transparent and opaque watercolor, with rewetting, blotting, and scraping, heightened with gum glaze, over graphite, on thick, rough-textured ivory wove paper (lower edge trimmed), 355 x 509 mm. Gift of Mrs. George T. Langhorne in memory of Edward Carson Waller.

Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago

The Rapids, Hudson River

Winslow Homer. The Rapids, Hudson River, 1894. Transparent watercolor, with traces of opaque watercolor, blotting, and scraping, over graphite, on thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper, 384 x 546 mm.Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago

Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light is arranged in thematic sections, organized around the different sites where the artist worked. These invite viewers both to look closely at Homer’s watercolor techniques and also to step back in order to appreciate the way he adapted his light effects and color palette to the unique characteristics of the settings where he worked. In an almost uncanny way, Homer’s watercolors nearly always ring true, vividly capturing the tangible sensations of each environment. A total of 130 watercolors, oils, drawings, and prints from public and private collections throughout the United States tell the story of Homer’s development as a watercolor artist, chronicling his techniques, materials, and his responses to dramatic settings—the rocky, deserted coast of Maine, the lush habitats of the Adirondack Mountains, and mesmerizing vistas in the Caribbean and Florida. The exhibition demonstrates the central role that watercolor played in helping the artist achieve the fresh, immediate, light-filled scenes that have become his most enduring legacy to American art.

The exhibition is the result of a collaboration among curators, researchers, conservators, and conservation scientists, who used the latest analytical technology to examine the Art Institute’s watercolors. The research yields new information about his pigments, his experiments with color theory, and his varied, unconventional use of watercolor. The alteration of his colors over time due to light exposure is also considered, in order to arrive at a new understanding of his original intentions. An interactive Web component will allow visitors to explore this research—as well as learn about cutting-edge
conservation techniques—at their own pace, scrutinizing details under high magnification and learning firsthand about the materials, pigments, and techniques Homer used to achieve his astounding effects

After the Hurricane, Bahamas

Winslow Homer. After the Hurricane, Bahamas, 1899. Transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting and scraping, over graphite, on moderately thick, moderately textured (twill texture on verso), ivory wove paper, 380 x 543 mm. Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago

Stowing Sail, Bahamas

Winslow Homer. Stowing Sail, Bahamas, 1903. Watercolor and graphite with touches of scraping on ivory wove paper; 35.5 x 55.4 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago

A beautifully illustrated catalogue accompanies Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light. Published by the Art Institute in association with Yale University Press, the 228-page volume presents essays written by Tedeschi and by Art Institute paper conservator Kristi Dahm. The catalogue also includes major contributions by Homer specialist Judith Walsh, associate professor of conservation at Buffalo State University, and by exhibition research assistant Karen Huang. The catalogue will be available in February for purchase in the Museum Shop and online at www.artinstituteshop.org.

Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago. Terra Foundation for American Art is the Lead Foundation Sponsor as part of American Art American City, a Chicago celebration of historical American art. Harris is the Lead Corporate Sponsor. Additional support has been generously provided by the Jane Ellen Murray Foundation, the Community Associates of the Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Norman C. Bobins, and Mr. and Mrs. William C. Vance. Support for the catalogue has been generously provided by The
Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.

Photo of the day - Cars Passing the Colosseum

April 24, 2008 • No Comments

National Geographic

April 24, 2008

Cars Passing the Colosseum, Rome, Italy, 1981

Photograph by O. Louis Mazzatenta

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Colosseum was built to host gladiator duels, battle reenactments, and other public spectacles. Now, the 50,000-seat stone-and-concrete amphitheater serves Rome in another capacity: as a traffic circle.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, “Down the Ancient Appian Way,” June 1981, National Geographic magazine)